试论严复政治观的经验主义特征

On the Empirical Features in Yan Fu's Political Outlook

严复是中国近代思想史上第一个揭示欧美理性主义与经验主义之别的思想家。在进化与竞争哲学观的引导下,严复的政治观具有经验主义特征。在严复看来,一切政治现象只是"天之所成",只能经验,不能试验;世间万物的进化需要条件和时机,发展是循序渐进的;以抽象的理念为社会改造之蓝图的唯理主义和口号式的"彻底解决"社会问题的激进主义将给社会带来极大的危害。为此,严复睿智地提出了一条在尊重传统和现存秩序的前提下,以开放的国际视野革新弊政,发展经济与振兴教育齐头并进,通过提升民智、民力、民德的"三民主义"实现中国富强与现代化的渐进之路。这种保守主义政治理念,在清末民初的知识界和思想界都是极为特殊的。严复经验主义政治思想,也是中国近代思想史中的宝贵财富。

Yan Fu was not only a great Enlightenment thinker but also a famous political thinker in Chinese modern history.Yan＇s political philosophy based on evolutionism was empirical.Since the 16th century,the Western European society underwent a transformation from feudalism to capitalism.Meanwhile,empiricism and rationalism were the two basic paradigms of thought in modernization,which were correspondent to the two models of modernization： the Anglo-American model and the French-German model.Yan was the first political thinker in Chinese history who revealed the differences between empiricism and rationalism.He tended to be for empiricism,due to his ideological background and his experience of study abroad.He believed that the nation,race,government and governance being discussed in politics should not be a deduction from the abstract concepts,but should derive from the comparison and summarization of historical experience.By the ″four methods″,namely,evolutionary,historical,comparative and inductive methods,he observed sociopolitical phenomena,forming his empirical political outlook,which was unique at that time.Firstly,Yan believed that all sociopolitical phenomena were natural,and could only be observed but not experimented on.If a society＇s political reform were carried out rashly,the outcome would be turmoil.Secondly,Yan criticized the abstract rationalism theoretically.He argued that the common ground shared by the rationalism from Plato to Rousseau was that realistic political problems were covered by abstract ideas.Yan made special criticisms on the ″human rights by nature″ and the ″societal contract″ in Rousseau＇s thinking.It was by doing so that he became known as the first thinker who criticized rationalism from an empirical point of view in the history of Chinese thought.Thirdly,Yan believed that the transformation of society and politics should be evolutional.With a sagacious perception of the differences between being ″radical″ and being ″gradual″ in terms of modernization,he opposed a radical revolution.He thought that political orders like liberty and democracy could only grow spontaneously from within the society,which was a slow and gradual process.Clear about the possible great harm to the society brought by both rationalism that took the abstract idea as a blueprint of reforming a society and radicalism that ″thoroughly solved″ social problems by shouting slogans,Yan Fu put forward an evolutionary way of societal transformation.In other words,it meant to do away with misgovernment with an open international view and to develop economy while revitalizing education in the condition in which the traditions and current orders were respected,and to achieve prosperity and modernization in China through improving the people＇s wisdom,force and moral.These political ideas,though conservative,were peculiar to the intellectual circles and the realm of ideology during the late Qin dynasty and the early Republic period.Given the development of the Chinese society since the 19th century,Yan Fu＇s empirical political outlook is a profound wisdom,providing ideological resources for the political reform in China.